


rosemary, catnip, and other purrennials

by AlexSeanchai



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Acts Like a Cat, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, F/M, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Miraculous Side Effects, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22534222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: Of course it's embarrassing to do things like need a teddy bear or need a hug or, since cats self-soothe this way, purr. Of course it's shameful to be that dramatic, that out of control of oneself.…Chat Noir can't stop purring.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 10
Kudos: 572





	rosemary, catnip, and other purrennials

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _not all magical side effects are unpleasant_. What three-sentence rule?

Somehow he ends up on Marinette's balcony, among the scents of her potted plants: an okay place to take a nap, Chat Noir supposes, or even just curl up on the lounge chair and purr until he's calm enough to go try to sleep in his own bed—or till twenty minutes before Nathalie or the Gorilla will notice if he doesn't come to breakfast, whatever—but then Marinette pops out of her skylight and Chat Noir would almost rather die than let her see him like this but he _can't stop purring_ …

"You look like Chloé does when someone catches her with her teddy bear," Marinette observes, opening her arms in a silent offer of a hug, "except I know people make fun of her for still having that bear when she's sixteen when she got it when she was what, sixteen months? They shouldn't," she adds, "and please don't tell me you think _I'll_ make fun of you for purring, and if Ladybug has then please _do_ tell me so I can go kick her ass."

"She hasn't," croaks Chat Noir, which he would say even if it were untrue, because Marinette and Ladybug fighting each other is a nightmare scenario, though that nightmare usually involves Marinette being akumatized. "And I know you won't, it's just—it's, it's a self-soothing thing," he tells her, "so it's exactly like the teddy bear, isn't it?"

Marinette bites her lip. "I guess," she says finally, "or like a hug—but who told you it ought to embarrass you to need soothing? Never mind, don't answer that," she adds quickly, "secret identity stuff, I'm sure."

"Cats are also supposed to purr when they're happy," Chat Noir mutters, giving up and tugging Marinette into his lap—he doesn't get to hug her as Adrien as much as he'd like, and she _knows_ his heart's Ladybug's and she offered a hug anyway, so if he's hurting her here, it's no more than she's willing to bear. "It'd be nice if I got _that_ part too."

"…So what upset you about Ladybug crashing into you on the Métro against Prime Queen?"

How does she—oh, no, that was all recorded, wasn't it, and Ladybug hadn't kept her voice down. Marinette just needs to have seen that at some point and believe he lied to Ladybug there…which, to be fair, he had. He's not going to answer, anyway. He doesn't _know_.

Marinette hums, shifting to rest more comfortably in his arms. "You know," she says finally, "I don't think it's that you don't purr when you're happy. I think it's you're almost never happy enough."

Chat Noir stares down at her.

"How do you feel about head scratches?"

… _blissfully happy_ , it turns out.

(Even more so a few days later when Ladybug turns up for patrol armed with a box of Tom & Sabine's best and the phrase "so Marinette told me". They don't actually do their usual run around any number of rooftops that night, because Chat Noir is too busy melting into a purring puddle in Ladybug's lap.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Dreamwidth](https://alexseanchai.dreamwidth.org/) and [Tumblr](https://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/).


End file.
